Grief
by timelordroots
Summary: A was gone. Emily could breathe again. The absolute contrary when she finds news less than inviting as she comes home to police tape. Set in the scene where Emily finds out there's a dead body that is possibly Maya.


The current events of the night were still revolving around in Emily's mind at an alarming pace, she couldn't quite wrap her head around that Mona Vanderwaal was A. Mona was the one who tried to sabotage them. Mona was the one who encouraged the four of them to sleep with one eye open, to be scared to do about anything without getting branded for it. Mona was the one who tried to kill Spencer earlier that night. The dorky girl who'd been their punching bag back in middle school was the sly person hiding in the shadows, watching their every move determined to ruin Emily, Spencer, Hanna, and Aria's lives. Emily never thought she could be so maniacal, twisted and omnipresent. She supposed it was their fault they had teased her, but most of it was Ali's doing, but then again they had gone along with it.

Only, this time, it felt relieving. They could sleep soundly at night without the fear of someone watching them, having the freedom to have privacy and do whatever they pleased. They could breathe again. They didn't have to worry. Mona was in a rehabilitation center, them being far from her reach. A was caught. A was gone. It was over.

All four of them were walking back to Emily's house, passing idle conversations with each other, all of them still in initial shock, letting it all sink in. An ambulance ring registered in Emily's ears, and she turned around to see one coming down the street for some unknown reason. Her eyes traveled with it, waiting for it to go straight down the street and past their cul-de-sac, but instead turned right into it. A warning note began to pound in her ears, hoping nothing else could add to the hectic night. Her eyes widened and she began walking faster towards her house, all signs of relief vanished from her face, with the others closely in tow.

Kicking off her heels and holding them in her hand, she ran to find police tape bordering one of the houses and people crowding around, police and ambulance lights flashing brightly in the nightly atmosphere. She shoved her way through the sea of people huddled outside the tape, running onto the scene and ignoring the police that asked her to step back. Was it her mom? Who was it?

She found her mom standing there and Emily quickly engulfed her mom in a hug. "Mom!" She exclaimed, out of breath and holding her close. She pulled back, exploding with questions. "Who is it? What's going on? Are you okay?" Her mom calmly quieted her endless inquiries, exhaling a deep breath before answering.

"Emily, I'm fine. It's just… they found a body." Emily's heart just about stopped, glancing to look that the police tape was not bordering their house but Maya's. Maya. No, it couldn't be Maya. There must be some sort of mistake! Maya, she couldn't be dead. The body just couldn't be her!

The words that Emily dreaded for her mom to voice were spoken. "They – they think it's Maya. I'm so sorry, honey." Her breath quickened to an uneven pace, heart was about to beat out of her chest, her eyes taking on a crazy wideness. She loved Maya. Maya being possibly dead was unbearable. This had to be a joke. Her eyes shot to Maya's house, as if waiting for her to come out and say she was alright.

Unfortunately, Emily found it not to be a joke when the authorities were rolling out a body bag from the house, the body being covered from sight but looking quite familiar in height and size of Maya. The mere sight of it made her hysterical; there was a body. It might be Maya. Hot tears were flowing down her cheeks as her entire body began to shake with trauma, the body passing her and at that point broke Emily. She clutched onto Spencer for dear life, unable to remove her eyes from what could possibly be Maya. The love of her life could be dead. She screamed out her name in agony after her, refusing to believe that it was true. The reason for the death didn't matter to her; the only thing that she saw was a dead body. Was this of A's doing? Did she decide that just because she's locked up in rehab, doesn't mean she'd leave without someone dying? The tears kept coming faster, streaming down her cheeks, her teeth clattering in shivers. She shriveled in Spencer's arms, unable to stand by herself, who held her tight, and kept whispering reassuring words to her but Emily ignored them, knowing nothing could minimize the pain she was feeling at the thought. They'd only gotten back together. This couldn't be true. Suddenly, her world was crashing down; the person she was utterly in love just may be the one who was just rolled into the ambulance with a bag covering her body. Their whole relationship flashed before Emily's eyes, attempting to engulf her mind into all the good times they had, only increasing the denial that she was having.

"No, Maya…" She sobbed out shakily, though was barely audible with her uncontrollable sniffs. She surrendered and crumpled down onto the hard cement of the street, still sniffling without power and closed her eyes, the sight of the body bag seemingly burned on the inside of her eyelids. No escape. She allowed the grief to take her over, sitting there helplessly on the ground as she mourned her possibly lost girlfriend.

**A/N: **I was feeling the need to write something sorrowful. This is the result. Shay was just perfect in this scene to begin with; I just can't imagine how Emily must have been feeling during the entire thing.


End file.
